


A Human Concept

by GamerAlexis



Series: Vault Family [2]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Coming Out, Gen, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 08:37:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13783785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamerAlexis/pseuds/GamerAlexis
Summary: As Zer0 spends time with the Vault Hunters, certain human tendencies and concepts arose.  As they travel together, they learn more of each other and become closer than ever.Curiously, Zer0 learns of a term called pronouns and, after some time, has something to say about it.





	A Human Concept

**Author's Note:**

> Wait, Alexis, in your last fic, didn't you give Zer0 he/him pronouns?
> 
> Yes, yes I did. When I started that fic, I naturally made Zer0 he/him because that's how I saw it when I played Zer0 for the first time. However, I'm older and wiser and realized that because Zer0 is an alien, why limit myself? And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense that Zer0 is nonbinary and would use they/them pronouns.
> 
> And so comes this fic. Where Finding Home was told exclusively from Axton's perspective, he would view Zer0 as he/him until told otherwise and, to be fair, Zer0 didn't know about pronouns and honestly didn't care until they felt comfortable enough around the Vault Hunters to come out with them.
> 
> So this is that: Zer0's coming out to the others.

Sanctuary was surprisingly peaceful without the impending doom of Handsome Jack looming over them.  There was still a lot of rebuilding to do and more vaults to find, but for the moment, things were peaceful.  Zer0 perched on one of the ceilings in Sanctuary, looking down on the citizens.  It had been months since Zer0 had come to Pandora looking for the Vault, the ultimate challenge of skill, and Zer0 had changed much since then.

For the first time, Zer0 willingly took off the helmet, the only protection against everyone else.  For once, Zer0 felt safe and protect and wanted to protect others.  Finding the vault was supposed to be the ultimate challenge yet keeping a group of friends, a family, safe, became a bigger challenge.

Especially since Axton had a habit of finding himself in deadly situations and Gaige was best friends with a killer robot and Salvador was a steroid using maniac and Maya was a siren and Krieg was a psycho.

Zer0 underestimated the challenge of keeping loved ones alive.

And now that they were all alive, Zer0 found another conundrum.

Humanity was intriguing.  They were vibrant and strong, creative and ambitious.  Zer0 had watched Axton take a bullet for Maya, heard Krieg talk like a man, seen Salvador and Gaige dance and laugh in the streets of Sanctuary.  There had been grief and tears, comfort and courage, and Zer0 had seen it all with fresh eyes.  There was so much on Pandora, so many new challenges and experiences, new friends and allies, but through it all, one thing had suddenly struck Zer0 with a baffling intensity.

Pronouns.  Little, inconsequential words to help simplify sentences yet held weight in defining people.  Zer0 talked with Maya and she explained it clearly and Zer0 thought about it for many days.

Since landing on Pandora, everyone called Zer0 a 'he' without question.  From Jack and Angel on those old ECHOs to Axton when introducing them to new people.  It hadn't bothered Zer0 before but now...

Zer0 was no human, spent years learning how to speak the language, foreign sounds to make with two tongues.  Then came years of practice until Zer0 was undeniably the most deadly assassin across the six galaxies, with a bounty to prove it.  Hidden beneath a mask, Zer0 cared not what people said.  There were better things to do, find a vault, keep the other vault hunters from dying, kill Jack.

The sun was high in the sky and Zer0 saw the citizens of Sanctuary wander into Moxxxi's for a cold drink, wearing thin tops and shorts.  Axton brazenly walked through the center of town with only his boxers on, a damp rag across his forehead.  Timothy Lawrence was sitting in the shade, trying to look everywhere but at Axton.  Zer0 laughed at Timothy's obvious attraction, it was almost painful to watch the poor boy ogle.  Axton had told everyone about what happened during the Fertility Festival between them and Zer0 hoped some good would come from it.

Axton deserved that.

"They're cute, aren't they?" Maya said, sitting down next to Zer0.  "Dunno if anything is going to come from it, but it's nice to hope."

"Agreed," Zer0 nodded.  "Axton has done much / He, more than us, deserves this / Someone he can love."

Maya nodded and pulled out a book, leaning against the chimney.  She, like the rest of Sanctuary, was wearing as little as possible, a blue tank top and black shorts.  "Axton has a big heart.  I sometimes wonder if he knows that."

Zer0 hummed and silence fell between the two of them.  Down below, Gaige put a sprinkler attachment to Deathtrap and he was floating down the streets, spraying the citizens with water to keep them cool.  Salvador and Krieg were off in a corner, putting raw skag steaks on the asphalt and watching them sizzle.  Zer0 was sweltering underneath the helmet, the heat amplified through the plastic and steel.

High above the city, with only Maya for company, there wasn't much risk.  Reaching behind, Zer0 unlatched the helmet.

"Have you decided?" Maya asked, idly turning a page in her book.

"Concerning?"

"Pronouns.  You didn't ask out of just curiosity, did you?"

Maya could always see right through all of them.  Zer0 looked down at the helmet and the reflection there, haloed by sunlight.

"Since I arrived, I've been called he," Zer0 said.  "I understand, of course.  The mystery and physique lends to that assumption, but I am no human.  I am neither man nor woman, I am simply Zer0.  It never bothered me before but now that I am unmasked I wish to be referred to properly."

"Of course," Maya nodded.  "The others will understand."

"I was never worried," Zer0 said and ran a hand over their reflection on their helmet.  They smiled and set the helmet aside.  "Will you stand by me?"

"Always."

 

When the sun went down, the air in Sanctuary cooled considerably.  Zer0 sat at home, their hands nervously checking their rifle over and over again.  It was unbecoming, to have a nervous habit when one was a deadly assassin, but Zer0 felt they were allowed this.  Maya was curled up on the couch next to them, still reading her book as the two of them waited.

The door slammed open, letting in a wave of hot, dry air.  Gaige and Axton walked in, closely followed by Krieg.  Gaige had thrown a jacket over her clothes but Axton was still as bare as ever.

"Where's Salvador?" Maya asked.

"Depends on who you ask," Gaige grinned.  "Because Salvador said he was going to help Lieutenant Connor with gun maintenance but when Axton cornered Connor about it - "

"Sal get's around," Axton said.  "Bastard's some kind of Pandoran sex delicacy, I swear."

"Don't tell me you're jealous," Gaige teased.  She poked at Axton's bare stomach.  "Is that why you were walking around practically naked?  Need some attention?"

"Timothy will give you plenty of that," Maya muttered under her breath.

Axton flushed pink and Gaige cackled.  Krieg wandered next to Maya, sitting on the floor beside her and leaning against her leg.  Gaige detached her arm and sat at the kitchen table, toolbox already open and Deathtrap floating alongside her.

"Before you retire," Zer0 said, sitting up straighter and calling Axton back from the stairs.  "I have something I would like to say."

"Do you want to wait for Sal?" Maya asked softly.

"Better to say it now than wait."

"Are you okay?" Axton sat on the rickety coffee table.  "You - you're not leaving, are you Zee?"

"No," Zer0 said.  They sat up straighter and took a deep breath.  This was their team, a little family they carved out of a dangerous planet.  Of course they would be supportive of Zer0.  They only had to speak.

"Are you dying?"

"He's not dying!" Gaige called from the kitchen.

"No, my health is fine," Zer0 said.  "It concerns the pronouns that are so vital to your language."

Axton's eyes widened with understanding and he leaned back on the table.  "Oh, shit.  Don't tell me we've been calling you by the wrong ones, Zee."

"It is a... new discovery," Zer0 admitted.  "One that Maya had helped me come to.  I am not human.  I am neither man nor woman and therefore I am neither he nor she."

"You're they, aren't you?" Axton guessed.  Zer0 nodded and Axton groaned.  "Dammit, Zer0, why didn't you tell us sooner?  You know we would have supported it, you didn't have to hide it."

"It didn't matter until now.  I had no one close enough but now there's you, all of you.  I have become unmasked and now I wish to be properly named."

"You got it, Zee," Gaige said and Zer0 warmed at her acceptance.  "Maya doesn't like sex, Salvador doesn't like romance, I don't like authority, and you don't like gendered pronouns."

Zer0 beamed.  "Thank you, Gaige."

"Okay, yeah, no problem, we got your back, Zee," Axton said.  "I'm just upset that it took you this long.  Damn it, we're friends.  You can tell us these things when they happen."

"But I did."

Axton smiled.  "Well, I guess you did."

**Author's Note:**

> Not exactly relevant to this fic, but in case you were curious, Maya is asexual and Salvador is pansexual and aromantic.


End file.
